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Astronomy Fundamentals

Time, Waves, and Particles

Is it possible for one person to travel more slowly through time than another person?

It is possible for someone to travel more slowly through time relative to others. By traveling faster than someone else (say, while on a bus or airplane), time will pass by at a slightly slower rate than for someone standing still. The difference in these cases, however, will usually be incredibly small. Even if one is flying in a jet plane for twelve hours the total time difference is less than one ten-millionth of a second compared to someone who remained on the ground. Traveling at the incredible speed of 335 million miles per hour (half the speed of light) will result in the traveler experiencing an elapsed time of eight hours and forty minutes for every ten hours experienced by someone remaining stationary. But that speed is far, far beyond what our current transportation technologies can provide.



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